//------------------------------// // First chapter: As if one problem wasn't enough // Story: Shadow of my Own // by LightCode //------------------------------// "Come back here, where do you think you're going?!" Heavily panting, Torrent was running his second mile already. Despite not being quite fond of surprise athletic performances, he was starting to get used to the fact that it surely wouldn't be the last time he'd have to pull off such a sprint. In fact, it was her third escape in the last week alone. "Come back here or face... the... consequences! You... THING!" On the last word he tried to shake a hoof and almost fell to ground, but managed to catch himself in the last moment. This pony was giving him more hassle than he expected. Just where did he go wrong? "First, she runs through the entire town; then she drags me all the way to the Everfree Forest," he mumbled. "Where's it going this time, I wonder?" As a matter of fact, he neither knew nor cared where exactly he was running, so long he kept the purple pony in sight. Well, actually he did care, to a certain extent... And the more trees he dodged, the more anxious he became that this might be the Everfree Forest again. Not that the evil creatures inhabiting the dark woods scared him in any way, though. Being in company of the TwiBot, it was rather the monsters' well-being he'd have to be worrying about. However, seeing that the aforementioned TwiBot was currently escaping him at drastic speeds, he indeed had a reason to fear for his hooves. "TwiBot, I order you to come back at once!" In response, he could catch a faint beeping sound signifying refusal. Through clenched teeth, Torrent let out a silent curse and smiled. After all, she was more or less his invention. He would never forget the day when a courier pony knocked on his door and asked him to fix and clean up the most wicked construction he had ever seen: a pony-shaped service robot. The purple-dyed body had several lights and buttons on it and a horn of the same colour stood out on the head. The mane and tail were of lighter and darker tones of magenta and indigo and a signature reading "Twi", written in a fine, smooth font, stood in place of a cutie mark - added to its blank stare, the overall sight of the TwiBot could actually infuse some serious terror into unprepared minds. Being of a curious kind, though, Torrent just couldn't refuse the offer. Not that he ever regretted this decision later on. Through the hours and days that he spent fixing, tweaking and learning the fine mechanics of the truly most incredible creation only a great unicorn mind could come up with, Torrent discovered a trait that was not mentioned to him earlier: the robot was semi-sentient. And before he even knew it, TwiBot had already formed an attachment to her new owner, as it would later turn out. Overcome by fear of Torrent's unusual discovery, the courier pony generously allowed him to keep her and was never heard of again. Sure, TwiBot had its moments and was quite challenging to maintain, but then again, Torrent taught her how to do fantastic back massages. This alone was worth chasing that silly robot rump for as long as it was necessary. Torrent could bet that she'd owe him a real good one, provided he'd actually... "...catch... you... back! What are you even doing?! For Celestia's sake, ST-AH- P-ponyfeathers!" And in the next moment, Torrent gracefully flew in a beautiful arc towards a welcoming pile of leaves. It was expected that he'll trip sooner or later, with the amount of stumps and snags being clearly against his odds. Dazed, he lay on his back, a couple of leaves slowly descending on his face, and muttered something about the gravity of his need for an immediate massage. Attempts to get back on his aching hooves were out of question. No less confused by her follower's sudden halt, TwiBot hit the emergency breaks and slid on her chassis for another few hooves, finally coming to a stop. She hesitated. Her inner display suggested a >>Check on master's well-being Y/N<< with a clear accent on the last option, but she decided to override the rather predictable algorithm and slowly moved towards the landing site. On squeaking wheels, she approached her master and gave him a penetrating glare. Torrent, who was still lying on his back with an open mouth and a blank stare pointed upwards, seemed to give no reaction to his runaway's presence. **meep meep..?** Slowly, without even turning his head, Torrent looked to the side. Two eyes were staring back at him. Two pink lights on a slightly tilted head radiated so much kindness and innocence that his heart simply began to melt. Sure, any other pony in his place - and in the right mind - would let out a silent scream and run for the hills; yet he knew that no matter how hard he ever tried, he'd always find his little robot pony the most adorable invention ever and forgive her for all her deeds. And this time wasn't an exception either. Carefully, he made an attempt to stand up. **meep meep!** Smiling, Torrent grabbed the stretched out purple hoof of help. ~~~ Leaning on a tree, Torrent sat next to his metal companion and scanned her for any scratches or damage. "TwiBot, care to explain why you ran away again?" By that time, the robot's eyes had returned to their regular purple colour. As soon as she processed the question, though, the lights jumped and wildly flickered yellow and orange. **Status report: Danger close. Danger close.** Torrent sighed. "You've been saying that for a week already, Twi. You ran away twice to 'save the day', but nothing actually happened. Ever." The robot kept glaring at him with a troubled look. Just what was wrong with her, the young stallion pondered. Maybe he should attempt to re-program her again? They were still in the forest as the evening lay its first touches on the many treetops. The sun stretched its rays and held to the leaves in a long, golden grasp; slowly, it kept descending beyond the horizon, letting go very unwillingly. The night demanded its rightful reign and mercilessly pushed the sunlight away, gradually dying the forest in its shady tones. The moon was still hiding, though, taking the time for a graceful appearance. After all, she wished to be just as beautiful as her sister. The world dived into a soft tranquility, yet something sinister was lurking in the air. Torrent scratched his head and blamed himself for letting the time slip away like that. Having managed to somehow calm TwiBot down, he thought he'd take a brief rest before they'd head back home - and fell asleep. He actually enjoyed sitting back on a tree stem like that and listening to the forest sounds, and since he hasn't done it for quite a while, he let himself completely drift away with the whispering rustle of the leaves. "Oh boy, we need to get going. It's dusk already, we don't want to be stuck for the ni-" **-BEEP BEEP- DANGER CLOSE!** TwiBot, who was also hibernating, jumped up as she seemed to remember her concerns. Rotating the head wildly and scanning the forest, she eventually fixed her eyes on her master and blinked with a red light. And for all he knew, red lights meant trouble. Always. Green, purple, pink, yellow and orange were TwiBot's eyes' status lights, which ranged from overjoyed to anxious, but they would never, under no circumstances, go red without a reason. Be it an internal malfunction or some predicted hazard, the red lights were to be taken seriously, and Torrent was quite aware of that. After all, it did save him from quite an amount of reckless accidents. Her current state puzzled him, though. He looked around: Countless trees stretching to both horizons; some still in the evening light, some already in the nocturnal dark. Apart of TwiBot's constant beeping, the night was to be a rather quiet one. The seemed to be the only creatures in a wide radius. Nothing promised trouble. **Status report: Danger close. Must move. Assistance required. Will engage.** Assistance? What was she even talking about? Torrent was barely able to think it through as TwiBot suddenly lit up all her body lights and acceleration towards a goal known only to her. And what was he left to do rather than follow those lights into the forest's dark? ~~~ This run didn't last too long. After a while, TwiBot and Torrent stepped out on a clearing. The robot stopped and turned around, waiting for her master to catch up. Panting, Torrent trotted the last two steps and gave his torturer a bewildered look: TwiBot was calm again and eyed him up with a soft, purple hue. Before he could rain anger on her, though, she looked up and said in a calm, robotic voice: **Sit down, master. It is about to happen.** Baffled, Torrent let his jaw drop wide open. TwiBot... speaking in that manner? If he could describe her acting earlier the day as weird, then this here was way out of his entire spectrum of what-the-ponyfeathers-was-that. **The sky, master.** Torrent gulped and sat down, pointing his eyes to the celestial ceiling above. He was ready for any kind of surprise now. At least so he thought. The clear night sky was strewn with countless stars, bright and dull, in a tight group or shyly distanced from each other. Once in a while, a star would start moving, rapidly flying across the sky as it burned out on its way, leaving a bright trail that would slowly fade away. Beautiful and sad at the same time, Torrent thought. To shine so brightly, yet to be destined to burn out on one unexpected day. Quite sad indeed. Another star left the sky, followed by another, and another... One of them seemed so bright that Torrent could have sworn he had never imagined a light as intense. He decided for it to be the last star for tonight, then he'd try to reason with TwiBot and head back home. Smoothly, the star flickered as it flew in its arc. That would take a long time to burn out, Torrent bet. It must be quite a star, seeing how brightly yellowish the trail- Wait a second. Torrent squinted. The yellow star kept flying on its course, going out and lighting up again, but never fully burning out. In fact, it kept growing with every second, its trajectory pointing exactly at... "Uhm, Twi... I'm starting to feel a bit uneasy about this star up there, see it?" The robot remained silent, still looking up. What terrified him most, though, is that her eyes remained purple, as if there was no problem at all with a giant celestial object squashing them any second. "Twi, I guess we better get going, don't you... think..." Yup, it was flying right into them alright, but there was nothing Torrent could do right now. He was petrified. His mind engulfed in the radiance of the approaching light, he decided that even if it was an end, then it was the most beautiful end ever. After all, you don't get hit by a star every day, do you? Oh boy, this will be heard in all of Equestria! The star was already close enough to shine as bright as Torrent's questionable excitement. His face gradually lit up and TwiBot's eyes turned green as they were witnessing the last glorious moments before an inevitable impact. This was it. One more second. This was i- Gone. "Gone?! Where'd it... what?" Torrent blankly stared at TwiBot, who, in her turn, was hectically flashing with all the possible colour combinations she could come up with, signifying no less of a confusion. The star had vanished, seconds before it would've hit the ground. And then it happened. zzzzZZIP - BOOM! A bright flash, a dozen of hooves away, lit up the entire environment, followed by a loud explosion that tossed Torrent back with an enormous shock wave. Then everything went quiet again. Temporarily deafened and blinded, Torrent lay on the ground, barely conscious. Slowly, his senses came back to him, as he attempted to rise to his hooves. All bones seemed in their places, that was good news so far. He looked around: A blurry silhouette of TwiBot was sitting not too far away from him, seemingly unaffected by the blast at all. He decided to check on her and staggered her way. "You... alright?" **Status report: All systems working. Daddy alright?** Torrent smiled and confirmed he's feeling fine. He loved it when she called him like that. "What was that... What just happened?" Torrent asked the sky more than anyone else. Looking ahead, he searched the area for the answer. And he was sure to find it. In the approximate vicinity of the explosion, something was faintly glowing. Torrent and TwiBot exchanged looks and he silently nodded. They had to find out. On careful steps, both approached the crash site. What they saw crowned every single thing they had experienced through the course of the entire day. An orange Pegasus was mildly shining bright, pleasant hues.